2021 All-Area Athletes & Teams

Page 40 www.yoursun.com First team Andrew Austin (Charlotte junior) Going into the state tournament, Austin knew exactly what needed to be done in order to repeat a state champion. "There's one kid I've been working for all year," he said. I lost to him at the Knockout and lost to him at the Gene Gorman." That kid was Jesuit's Brandon Basile, the only wrestler to have beaten Austin as he rampaged through the 126-pound division. "That's really my mindset," Austin said. "I'm in tunnel vision right now. I feel my confidence and where I'm at, mentally. I'm unstoppable. I don't see him beating me again." Austin was indeed unstoppable and the undefeated Basile was defeated. Austin outpointed Basile 6-5 in a thriller to win the state title and finished his season 42-2. Lance Schyck (Lemon Bay junior) Heading into regionals, the 182-pound Schyck had found peace and a silver lining in dealing the entire season with a torn ACL. "I'm wrestling the best I've ever wrestled. I'm wrestling way better than I did when I made the state finals last year," he said. "I'm making the best of what I've got and it's paying off. Last year, I was very — I wouldn't say one-dimensional because I made it to the state finals — but a lot of my shots were very predictable and the same. … Because of this, I had to integrate other things." Schyck capped an undefeated season (39-0) with a gritty performance at the Class 1A state tournament. He outlasted Somerset Academy's Sean Concepcion for a 4-3 decision in the quarterfinals, pinned Palm Bay's Alexzander Owens in the semis, then outpointed American Heritage's Joseph Nicolosi, 9-5, to win the title. In so doing, he joined his father, Lemon Bay coach Mike Schyck, as a Manta Rays state champion. Nathaniel Box (Charlotte sophomore) The heavyweight emerged late in the season for Charlotte and came on strong when the Tarpons needed him most. He finished third in the region, then went on an unexpected run at the state tour- nament, reaching the third-place match before falling to Westside's Ray Bolden. He finished the season 40-10. Isaac Church (Charlotte junior) The 132-pounder capped his junior campaign with a 42-5 record, going the distance before losing a 9-3 decision to Palmetto Ridge's Brennan Van Hoecke in the state title match. Church also finished second in the Captain Archer earlier in the season and posted a fourth-place finish in the Knockout Classic. Koen Hoffman (Port Charlotte sophomore) The Pirates' 152-pounder flashed his potential at season's end by finishing third at the region tournament, then advanc- ing to the third-place match at the state championship. He wound up going 4-2 in Kissimmee and should enter his junior sea- son with high expectations after finishing 2021 with a 34-6 mark. Camren French (Charlotte freshman) The 106-pound French was another midseason surprise for the Tarpons and he came on strong at season's end, finishing fifth at the state tournament and ending the year with a 16-5 record. Dominic Joyce (North Port sophomore) The 170-pound region champion es- tablished himself as a terror for years to come with a monster sophomore campaign that saw him finish a whopping 47-3. After crushing all comers at the region tournament, Joyce roared through his first three rounds at the Class 3A state champi- onships. He won each on pins before losing a hard-fought 7-5 decision to South Dade's Joshua Swan in the title match. By PATRICK OBLEY SPORTS WRITER The numbers from this year's wrestling state championships are staggering. Here are just a few: One school sent 10 wrestlers to Kissimmee. Another sent nine. Four wrestlers won state titles. Fourteen stood on the podium. One wrestler became just the seventh in state history to win five state titles. And, of course, one school won it all. Charlotte's third-ever state championship occurred in a storybook fashion, thanks to the contributions from every- one in its 10-wrestler contin- gent. When Lucas Willis — the most successful wrestler in school history — won his fifth consecutive state title, Charlotte clinched the team title. Andrew Austin's second state title moments earlier had put Willis in position to win it all for the Tarpons. The Charlotte duo made up two-thirds of this year's Wrestler of the Year finalists. Lance Schyck, Lemon Bay's living ode to perseverance, was the third finalist after capping an undefeated season with his state title — all done on a torn anterior cruciate ligament that required surgery at season's end. Schyck will return for his senior season as the tip of the spear for a rising Manta Rays program that will return just about everyone among the nine wrestlers it sent to Kissimmee. There's more — the Taranto family had a great weekend for Venice. Port Charlotte's two-person contingent made an epic amount of noise and North Port's program laid a promising foundation for its future. In summary: It was a tre- mendous year for wrestling in our area. On to The Daily Sun's loaded first and second teams: Grapplers have state champs aplenty PHOTO PROVIDED Cody Rice jumps into the arms of teammate Lucas Willis after Rice won the state title in the 170-pound class, defeating Countryside's Brian Burburija, 5-2. SUN PREPS ALL-AREA WRESTLING TEAM Player of the year Lucas Willis (Charlotte senior) There are no sure things in wrestling, but Willis is about as close to death and taxes as there is in the world's oldest sport. He entered the state championships as the overwhelming favorite in the 160-pound class and he left nothing but wreckage in his wake. He won three of four matches in a combined 96 seconds. In the title match, he dispatched Jesuit's Sergio Desiante in 64 seconds. This year's triumph made Willis (34-2) just the seventh wrestler in state history to win five titles. He also surpassed his coach, Evan Robinson, to become Charlotte's first four-time champion. In the end, though, Willis found himself reveling in his team's overall achievement as much as anything he accomplished on his own. "It was just about preparedness and Coach Robinson drilling it into our head it was just another tournament and to go out there and have fun," he said. "Look at what happens once they learn how to have fun? We win state titles." WILLIS SEE WRESTLING, 40

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